Varak és kastélyok (A 25. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1995 Eger, 1995)

Előadások: - Eeva-Liisa Rautalahti: Suomenlinna – világörökség

1750s. This fortification is the lowest and the outermost part of the quadruple defense chain guarding the narrow strait of Kustaanmiekka which is the main entrance from the sea to Helsinki. During the 19th century the Russians made the walls higher and thicker and from granite, like Swedes. After the Crimean War the stone bastions were more or less abandoned and a new defense line facing west far out to sea was made with cannon emplacements of sand and later also of concrete. The first restoration of the granite walls was made by the Finns in the 1920s, and after that almost nothing was made until 1992. The granite walls are built as curtain walls with facings of granite blocks held in place with small stone wedges, the joints being filled with lime mortar and the core with rubble and lime. The top was covered with clay and bark layers as a damp proof course and covered with turf. Vaulted casemates were usually built later inside the walls with a similar construction. The battlements and bastions were always originally built with a sophisticated water drainage system. The damages are mainly due to erosion and lack of maintainance. The turf covering is blown away by wind or eroded by the thousands of tourists walking on it, and thus the bark and clay layers are exposed and damaged. The drainage systems do not function any more because of interruptions in construction or later rebuildings of the battlements. The water penetrates into the construction, especially between the facing and the core. The water penetration and frequent freezing and thawing finally dissolve the lime mortar, big waterpockets are formed inside the constructiuon, the facing starts to bulge and finally collapses, partly or totally. The restoration started with careful archive studies, up-dating and completing measured drawing. The reconstruction drawings with different phases of change were then made. The damages were recorded by observation on the site. On the basis of these studies the principles of the conservation were stated. The shorework fortification was to be repaired as it was, the new additions are made to meet the requirements of the use as a monument visited yearly by thousands of tourists. The walls of Kustaanmiekka will show all the stratifications of its history, the conservation is not restoration or reconstruction, where the appearence of a certain period is chosen as the basis of the design. This would always lead to compromises and even to situations where the later use has removed something essential, and, thus to restore it would only mean more compromises, so that what we finally get is an appearence the fortification the definition of the conservation principles was obvious and perhaps easier than in many other cases as the changes made after the original design or the decay of the construction have not been too drastic. The work was planned to be realised in sections in seven years, starting from the southernmost part in 1992. One year's work was estimated and the working area defined. The work started by erecting scaffolding, and the decisions about what to do were made on the site as a cooperation between the architect, the construction engineer and the craftsmen after close inspection of damaged areas. The design was, in fact, done at the same time as the repairs. This requires the constant presense of the conservation architect. We have luckily a young and very motivated architect doing this project. Repairing the walls involves careful time consuming stonework. But quite a number of craftsmen other than stonemasons are needed as well; carpenters to build supporting scaffolding, stairs and moulds to repair arches, and blacksmiths to make iron tie-rods and so on. If any new stones are needed they are cut on the site. The mortar used is a mixture of lime mortar and natural hydraulic mortar. Sometimes it has been necessary to remove bigger parts of